On behalf of Ayton Products Limited, PDE Consulting Ltd are delighted to confirm that the Environment Agency (EA) have accepted an application for surrender of the environmental permit for Hainford Landfill site.
It is understood that this is the first permit in the country to be accepted for surrender where the landfill gas completion criteria was categorised as Scenario 3. This applies to sites where methane concentrations within the wastes are greater than 5% v/v or carbon dioxide concentrations are greater than 10 % v/v and the application has to be approved by a panel of experts.
It is necessary to have a minimum of 24 monitoring datasets over two consecutive years for perimeter and in-waste boreholes and to meet criteria for maximum gas flow rates and maximum site characteristic hazardous gas flow rates. In addition monitoring is required to be undertaken during certain site specific and meteorological conditions.
The final hurdle was a site visit from a team of EA staff to confirm that the site and related infrastructure were as described in the surrender application report which included an in-depth audit of the monitoring infrastructure.
It is incredibly important that the appropriate number of boreholes are installed, specific conditions are captured and that boreholes are fit for purpose otherwise years of costly monitoring can be pointless. Details as small as an ill fitting gas tap or cap can make the EA question the data and re-set the clock on the required monitoring period.
The EA were very impressed with the extra lengths that PDE undertook to capture the required conditions and also the evidence provided that boreholes are subject to continued maintenance and repair.
